Chef Alex Sanchez, who has helmed The Table to its 'Best Restaurant in Mumbai' position, is back with renewed energy and fresh perspective after a year-long hiatus.

His time at 3 Michelin Star Restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York, under renowned Chef Daniel Humm, has inspired him to get behind the stove, cook more, and infuse his food with additional finesse and delicious new flavours.

While he was working at Eleven Madison Park, Sanchez also witnessed the restaurant's triumph of being ranked No. 4 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list that came out earlier this year.

Sanchez, who has previously worked at noted restaurants Manresa and The French Laundry, is also known to have given Mumbai's restaurant scene the much-needed culinary thrust in 2011 when he introduced diners to the concept of small and large plates, community dining, and San Francisco-inspired cuisine.

His second coming will see him concentrate on refining his technique, the quality of produce, and on launching practically a whole new menu by the end of the year (a sneak peek: fresh ricotta raviolo, bruschetta, and kale salad). Along with pop-ups, special dinners with chefs he worked with in New York and a series of masterclasses for guests, he has also come back to launch something brand new – The Table's very own catering service for parties and weddings. Sanchez will be at The Table until March 2015, and from thereon he may move to London or Ireland to explore their growing culinary trends. Vogue sat down with the culinary virtuoso.

Bhairavi Javeri: What made you leave Mumbai?

Alex Sanchez: I was pretty young when I took the job at The Table; I was only 26. It was a great opportunity for me, but I felt I had more potential – not in the sense of being better than a chef, but I felt I had not explored everything I had to as a "cook". I wanted to go back and cook; I wanted to be the guy being yelled at; I wanted to focus on my technical skills, focus on taste and flavours, and I obviously wanted to do it in a place where I would be the most challenged. Through my whole career I have worked at fine-dine restaurants but I had never worked at a 3 Star Michelin Restaurant in New York such as Eleven Madison Park – and for a growing chef, that's the mountaintop. I knew I had to get this opportunity before I got any older; I recently turned 30.

BJ: In what capacity did you work at Eleven Madison Park?

AS: The restaurant follows the traditional Kitchen Brigade system, and chef Daniel Humm was keen I start off as a Commis for one week in order to understand the foundation of all principles and how everything functions in the restaurant. Over the course of the year, I got moved to various stations. You also have to then become a 'tournant', who is responsible to cover every station on a person's day off – so you learn everything in the kitchen. When you get moved up a station, the chef is saying he trusts you, believes in you and is basically going to be very hard on you. But it's not life or death; ultimately it's about making people happy.

BJ:What about the philosophy of Eleven Madison Park really stayed with you?

AS: The restaurant's commitment to the quality of food is incredible. With the exception of some bases, stocks and pickled items, everything is prepared fresh from start to finish everyday. At the end of the night, everything is thrown away, and the refrigerators are emptied out. The sous chefs even come and check that you haven't hidden anything! This helps create a kitchen full of people who are willing to work that hard every day, and it creates an environment where you are absolutely committed to the quality of food. It was very challenging to do all dishes from start to finish everyday – as you only have a few hours of prep time, and by 5 pm all dishes have to ready for a chef tasting. This pushes you to set timelines for yourself, and you challenge yourself to get things ready in a limited amount of time and at a Michelin Star level. It was taxing and stressful, but in a healthy way.

BJ: Produce vs technique, what is more important?

AS: Working at Eleven Madison Park made me realise that the produce isn't always good, but what you do with it, how you respect it and how you treat it makes it stand out. I work with farmers, suppliers and even work on our farm in Alibaug, but largely everyone is using the same produce in all restaurants. There is no advantage in terms of produce, so the only thing that can set us apart is how we treat it, the techniques we use, how we buy, and how we keep it fresh. I have meetings every day with my staff about these little things such as wrapping herbs in a wet paper towel. If your produce isn't treated well, your food will never be better than this is what I tell them.

BJ: What changes are you set to make at The Table?

AS: My goal was never to go there, learn their recipes, pick up their ideas and come back and turn this into Twelve Madison Park. But living in New York and working at the restaurant have revitalised me and given me a fresh perspective on things. We have redone the kitchen; we will repaint the walls and infuse the place with new energy. I am in a frame of mind, where I just want to cook, but first my main focus is to improve the quality of the produce we are getting, and to simultaneously change the menu. We have never worked on structured menu changes; it's always been about what is inspiring us right now and what is in season. I will make sure I change 3/4th of the menu by the end of the year.

BJ: What can we expect on the new menu?

AS: The season is changing right now so the food we will get in the market will be much better, which is great. Since there is an issue with importing these days, we have started making our own cheese; we are working on 100 new samples of seafood at the moment, and experimenting with seafood from Goa such as Goan sea bass, Ronny Fish (or Red Mullet Fish), and baby prawns that have their shell on.

BJ: How do you want to push the envelope at The Table in terms of food?

AS: My philosophy has never been about pushing the envelope; we have never been that kind of restaurant. For me at 30, it's not about putting the most bells and whistles on every dish; it's about being more confident about my cooking. That was the one thing that really stood out for me at Eleven Madison Park – they are not using a million different molecular techniques or using a bunch of additives to change the form and texture. They are simply focusing on impeccable technique, classic French technique (with a modern twist), and refining flavours. I think that is something we forget, and as a society we get so caught up in what's the newest thing.

BJ: The success of which dish on the current menu caught you by surprise?

AS: The zucchini spaghetti. I put it on the menu more like an afterthought; it's not a bad dish but it drives me crazy because we sell so much of it. I came up with that dish in order to have a dish that is easy to reproduce in the kitchen when we first opened. When you are new, and you are still developing your team, you don't want to do anything overly complex. This dish has few components, and was pretty easy, like a stir-fry. And now it's my signature dish; that and the Chicken Wings.

BJ: Tell us about the launch of The Table's catering business.

AS: We have been listening to what people want, and the one thing that we are not offering at the moment is a catering experience for small functions and weddings. It's really tough given the infrastructure at this point, and to provide the same quality level of food that people expect at the restaurant in a catering. The catering business is in its early developmental stages at the moment, but my goal is to have it up and running before I leave in March.